Emerging Images

Portfolio of Reinaldo da Silva

My Mind's Eye

Welcome to my portfolio. This is
the beginning of a new body of work. I have been photographing the world
around me since 1951 when Ralph Sunderland, my high school teacher,
first put a real camera, his beloved Rollieflex, in my hand.

My photographs have accompanied me
through the ensuing years and through more than twenty moves while I
added thousands of exposures. But in 2002 most of my old work was lost
in transit. There were two possible responses to this loss. Focus on the
loss and continue to work in the same mode, or acknowledge and mourn the
loss but move forward.

The handful of images in the
"Legacy Gallery" are scanned from paper prints. Please forgive the poor
quality, but for now, that's all the portfolio I have left from the
past.

However, I am now free to go beyond
my old work, trying new styles, modes and ideas. In fact I have already
been experimenting and working with a mentor to develop a more personal
and involved portraiture. A second mode I am working in is the figure
study. Can I learn to use the undraped human body, both impersonal and
sensual, to expose the truth of the model and the moment? I hope so.

The new, digital media is another
radical change that I, and other photographers are only beginning to
explore. It provides many new controls for the artist. But used poorly
they are just more ways to ruin a work. (This
statement was true when I wrote it eight years ago. Now it is very
difficult to find film or film camera. This is a good thing as film
photography is very detrimental to the environment.)

I have separated
this display into the nude figures and the other work. As the quantity
grows I may wish to categorize it further. However, in many ways, there
is no difference. Whether nude or draped, the value, purpose, meaning of
the work derives from the same criteria: does this photograph express
something meaningful about the model, the photographer, the encounter,
the creation or expression of truth? Does truth arise in the moment of
the encounter of light and photographic media? Of course, this is the
question all art must answer.

None of my
work is or will be pornographic, but some of the images are of unclothed
adults and some will be erotic art. Please don't enter if you are
offended by nudity or sexuality. If you are either horrified or merely
titillated by nudity or sexuality, I ask you to please leave this
website rather than insult either me or the models. The models and I are
intending serious artistic expression, and whether we are successful or
not, we demand your respect.

I respect
your adult ability to push the back button and not enter. I specifically
request that no one under the age of self-responsibility enter these
pages.

We, both
the models and I, hope you are ready to share with us the creation of
meaning in both the clothed and unclothed images.